He may not be a famous face but Eden resident Peter Rice is dedicated to helping his community and on the steps of the Eden Post Office on Australia Day he was named the township's citizen of the year.

Mr Rice immersed himself in the culture of town when he moved to the area with his wife Barbara in 1982 after holidaying here frequently during the 1970s.

Describing Eden in those early days, Peter said the township was a village made up of primarily four to five families and their ascendants.

He also noted the friendly nature of the people in Eden compared to the city folk in Canberra.

"When you walked down the street people smiled, and when I asked, 'why are people smiling they don't do that in Canberra,' someone said they probably think you're related," Mr Rice said ...

"It was a great spirit we found here in Eden, the people are very unique," Mr Rice said.

Talking about what motivates him to work tirelessly for the benefit of others, Mr Rice said, "We're christians and try to live a christian life... we're not heavy Bible people but we do belong to a church.

"Christ was not a conquering hero in military terms, he was an ambassador to the poor and needy and I think that most christians do have an eye for people that are less fortunate then they are and try and do something about it."

The community of Eden is calling for help to tackle a juvenile crime problem that is costing the township both financially and emotionally.

Manager of Eden Pool, John Pelling estimated he has had to pay thousands to cover the damage done by vandals at the recreational facility alone.

"Including the repair of the fencing, the installation of gates to the change rooms - because they were getting in there trying to jimmy off the coin box for the showers - it would be over a couple of thousand dollars," Mr Pelling said.

"I even had to go out and buy chains and padlocks to chain up the garbage bins, because they were putting them in the pool, and that was well over $100."

The pool manager faced another added cost as he considered installing motion detectors and alarms which "will be an expensive exercise".

Repeated vandalism has also left Eden Golf Club Pro Shop operator Jonathan Hickman on edge.

"Every time the phone rings at night I'm thinking it's the club telling me I've been vandalised again."

Following months of continual break-ins and vandalism the residents of Eden have been seeking assistance to deal with the turmoil.

Police and Department of Community Services (DoCS) have been working to amend the issues but to no avail.

Both agencies have exhausted their capacities and further government assistance will be required ...

A more recent report from police of two children, aged six and eight, throwing rocks causing malicious damage has further fuelled cries for intervention (see more on juvenile crime on this page (left)).

Talking about the issues Far South Coast Local Area Command Inspector Jason Edmunds said "there's no simple fix".

"Any time police are dealing with young offenders it is particularly difficult and we encourage a whole of government approach that looks at underlying issues for youth crime especially young kids," he said.

A social worker associated with a local welfare agency said Eden had a serious problem and noted the facilities to amend the social problems were not available in the area.

Drug abuse, alcoholism and gambling were identified as key factors causing social problems.

He also reported the need for a proper sociological survey of the Eden area to identify individuals in need of support, followed by the provision of appropriately qualified persons to help those in need.

The need to implement an education campaign, focusing on early social integration and intervention and teaching children a healthy sense of community, was also highlighted.

At a ceremony at Bowman Hall on Saturday, 235 residents, from dozens of countries around the world, became Australian citizens and enrolled to vote.

Professor Bashir said it was her greatest pleasure to visit "this splendid district of great significance in our history".

"We're all aware that Australia's identity is very unique," she said.

"We enjoy a quality of life universally respected and admired.

"Australia opens its arms and welcomes you." ...

A picture tells a story: another media outlet clinging onto old notions. The notion of immigrants assimilating to Aussie ways is long past in much of Sydney. Last time I visited Blacktown there were so few Aussies that talk of assimilation is ridiculous. The Aussies left there couldn't offer you much, unless you're interested in drugs.

The era of assimilation in Sydney is gone. Immigrants now do as they please. But the media keeps painting this old picture and will keep on doing so until one day a different headline appears like "younger Britons appear to be integrating less well than their parents" and all of a sudden there's a mad rush to avoid US style ghettos with talk of enforced "equality, participation and interaction". Segregation is inevitable and sticking a swagman's hat on a cute kid will not stop it.

LOCAL police have warned residents to be more security conscious at night after a spate of violent robberies over the weekend.

Around 4am Saturday a 34-year-old Mt Druitt man was found slipping in and out of consciousness at Quakers Hill Parkway by a passing motorist.

He suffered severe lacerations and a broken ankle. He told police he was attacked by a group of men.

Early Sunday morning, a 24-year-old Quakers Hill man was allegedly attacked by three youths on Quakers Rd. Police said he was punched in the head and body and dragged on to the roadway before the men stole his mobile phone.

Meanwhile, an Indian national was attacked and robbed of cash, a mobile and two cameras, as he left Blacktown station just after midnight last Sunday week...

"What we've gleaned from the crime scene, what we've gleaned from the other persons present, it was clear to us that it appears to us to be a self-defence issue," he said.

"The people that have been stabbed, the deceased and the other two appear to be the aggressors in this situation and he was in the process of defending himself."

The Immigration Department is reviewing the visas of 10 people who were involved in the stabbing.

Police have questioned 13 immigrant farm workers who live at the winery, but have not laid any charges.

Senior Sergeant Bezzina says they believe the 58-year-old man stabbed the three men in self-defence when a violent argument started.

"There was some suggestion it was over a visa, but there are other issues that come into it which I won't go into, but it was initially over visas and the assistance of the immigration people came to our aid and subsequently all bar three have now been taken into the immigration's custody and they're reviewing their visa situation," he said.

A BRAWL in which one man was stabbed to death at a winery in north-east Victoria on Saturday night could have been the result of a dispute between legal and illegal foreign workers.

Twelve Asian men and women were questioned by homicide squad detectives ...

Mr Simian said he had been told by police the dispute might have resulted from tension between workers with visas and those working illegally.

"The police have informed me that they think it was some of the Asians that had visas against some of the illegals who were muscling in on their work."

A white man kills someone in self defence and you can bet he will face charges of manslaughter. A touch of post-Haneef wisdom? Charge an immigrant worker, and suffer the mass hysteria media circus scrutinising your every move? "No charges, son, on your way".

NSW Railcorp's ethnically-diverse work force has been rocked by a racist email allegedly circulated from the account of a senior manager in an apparent attempt to stoke division on Australia Day.

An inflammatory email was sent from the account of former policeman David Carroll, second in command of RailCorp's 800-strong security division.

The email entitled "Australia - The Right To Leave" calls on immigrants who do not wish to adopt an English-speaking, Anglo-Christian lifestyle to pack their bags and leave Australia.

"Immigrants not Australians must adapt. Take it or leave it. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture," the email begins. "We speak English, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian or any other language. Therefore if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language.

"We are happy with our culture and we have no desire to change and we really don't care how you did things where you came from.

"This is our country, our land, our lifestyle and we will allow every opportunity to enjoy all this.

"But once you are done complaining, whining and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, our way of life, I highly encourage you to take advantage of one other great Australian freedom. If you are not happy here then move.

"We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country you accepted."

Labour (PvdA) politician Bouchra Ismaili has reviled a citizen of Rotterdam in an e-mail. The man was told that as a member of the white minority in his district, he should not complain about the Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Ismaili, who has Moroccan nationality, is a council member for PvdA in the Rotterdam district council of Charlois. "You are the immigrants here!!!", she wrote to the white man who drew her attention by e-mail to statements by the controversial Muslim organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir. Ismali also wrote in her e-mail reply to the man: 'Drop dead,' and 'convert to Islam,' Algemeen Dagblad reported yesterday ...

Jos Parbleu, the man that received the e-mail from Ismaili, sent hundreds of local politicians an e-mail with statements by Okay Pala of Hizb ut-Tahrir. He is concerned about the rise of this movement, which is monitored by the AIVD secret service. The e-mail from Ismaili that he got back "shows the frightfully disastrous situation in which our country has landed!", he said in the newspaper.

So what prompted the angry email in the first place? Jos Parbleu sent an email to Ms. Ismaili and hundreds of others about two worrisome quotes by Okay Pala, the local leader of the radically Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, and published in the Turkish-Dutch "De Telegraaf" (more on this at Islam in Europe). Mr. Pala had said: "We reject freedom of speech, because we reject democracy," and "What you need is a heavy bomb attack".

But instead of attacking Mr. Pala or those quotes, she went after Mr. Parbleu for telling us about it!

MORE than 3300 proud new Australians from 56 countries pledged their allegiance to the flag in ceremonies across NSW yesterday ...

They are all part of a popular trend with more than 4million people becoming citizens since Australian Citizenship was introduced in 1949 ...

Of the 27,494 immigrants who arrived in NSW between January 1 and December 1 last year, one out of six was from China, making it one of the largest source of immigrants to the state.

Meanwhile, India has overtaken Britain as our second-biggest source of new citizens, followed by the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Lebanon and Indonesia.

Pakistanis and Iraqis are also among our fastest-growing migrant groups.

They may come from all parts of the globe, but two things these new Australians have in common is faith in their adopted country and hopes for a better life.

Abdulai Jallah

Abdulai Jallah knew he had to find a new home after fleeing war-torn Liberia several years ago.

The 37-year-old security guard from Bankstown read about Australia in a magazine and fell in love with the country ...

Liliana Auwyang

Liliana Auwyang adored Australia when she visited as a tourist more than 10 years ago. It was the beautiful scenery and culture that had this 41-year-old from Panania, in south-western Sydney, hooked. So, not long after her return to Jakarta, she began researching how to come back permanently.

"I went back and applied for a student visa and came back to study English and business," she says. "Australia is such a beautiful country and there are so many opportunities for single women." ...

Richard Brunskill

Richard Brunskill lived his whole life in central London before settling down-under. After meeting his partner during a six-week visit here in 2001, he fell in love with the place. Compared to his former home, the 44-year-old says Sydney feels equally sophisticated, minus the overcrowding. "It still has space in which to live and breathe ..." he says ...

Rania Islam

One of the newest little Australians was born at the Royal Hospital for Women, Randwick, yesterday. Rania Islam arrived at 2.40am, much to the delight of her parents, Sharmin Khan and Rezaul Islam, and her big brother Rayyan Islam, 18 months ...

Douglas Snider

IT WAS true love that brought Douglas Snider to Sydney six years ago. His wife Tiate was born and bred in the inner-west suburb of Newtown ...

Ewi Sook Oh

... Ewi took residency in 2004 after starting a Diploma of Community Service in Melbourne as an overseas scholarship student three years earlier. She later followed her best friend to Sydney and has since come to love the harbour city's open spaces and friendly atmosphere ... "In my home in South Korea there are tall buildings and crowds everywhere. There are not so many people in Sydney ..."

Rene Strauss Arias

THE reopening of Sydney's Hilton Hotel in mid-2005 could hardly have been better timed for 49-year-old Filipino Rene Strauss Arias.

Although his wife Twinky already had an accountancy job waiting and strong family ties in Sydney, he was charting unknown waters.

"In the Philippines you're already considered old when you reach 30," he says. "I was worried we would come here and I might not be able to get a job." ...

Anwar Hamam

... After completing an IT degree, he is now working as a commercial painter while taking a second qualification, in accountancy, at Sydney University ...

Andrei Bobylev

A NATIVE of St Petersburg, Andrei Bobylev first heard about Australia from some friends who had already been, and he became curious ...

"The most fascinating thing was to experience the complete opposite of Europe by celebrating Christmas during a 30-degree day on the beach," ...

Joke #1: Aussies? Proud? Say G'day? Yep, they'll settle nicely in south-west Sydney into their own communities. And if someone dare ask them have they assimilated they'll say "assimilate to what?". Abdulai Jallah, an Aussie in Bankstown. Good one, Jack.

Joke #2: Liliana Auwyang. "Australia is such a beautiful country and there are so many opportunities for single women.". Ha, ha. Yes, the Islamification of south-west Sydney will provide a rich array of diverse opportunities for single women. Good one, Jack.

Joke #3: Richard Brunskill's loves Sydney because "It still has space in which to live and breathe". Hmm, what might have caused London to become so overcrowded? Why that would be record levels of immigration. And hasn't Australia been running record levels of immigration too? Didn't a recent premier describe Sydney as being full? A ha ha, good one Jack.

Joke #4: Rania Islam. Welcome grasshopper. Fortunate you were, nurse did have, when seldom nurse found. Why might that be? Why nursing is a frontline diversity job, and we know how much we all love diversity. Chuck, chuck. Good one, Jack.

Joke #5: Douglas Snider's wife was "was born and bred in the inner-west suburb of Newtown". Bwahaha! Good one, Jack. Now you're chuggin.

Joke #6: Ewi Sook Oh. She later followed her best friend to Sydney and "love the harbour city's open spaces and friendly atmosphere". Snick, snick. Nothing to do with the fact that Sydney has more Asians than Melbourne. No, not at all. Pffffftt.

Joke #7: Rene Strauss Arias. "In the Philippines you're already considered old when you reach 30," he says. "I was worried we would come here and I might not be able to get a job.". Worried? Bah, ha ha. No worries here mate, you can get the dole, can't ya?

Joke #8: Anwar Hamam. "After completing an IT degree, he is now working as a commercial painter". Bwaaa ha ha. Forgot to check the outsourced career list did we? Hmm.

If this were a sane world, this is what we would hear during the president's next address to the nation:

My fellow Americans.

I come to you now, gravely aware that what I am about to say will radically change the course of what we have, for nearly five long years now, called the war on terror.

For almost as long as I have held this office, I have been leading this war. On my watch, the United States sent troops into Afghanistan ... On my watch, we sent troops into Iraq ...

I made this democratization process the centerpiece of my second term, the core of my political strategy against global terrorism, because history has taught us that democracies don't make war, or support terrorist attacks, on one another ...

Over the past few years, then, the United States has supported fledgling democracies in Afghanistan Iraq and the Palestinian Authority. We have proudly assisted in making free and fair elections possible in these places, and with excellent results -- at least with regard to the freeness and the fairness of the elections. But the fact is, when these peoples have spoken, what we have heard, or should have been hearing, in the expression of their collective will is that the mechanics of democracy alone (one citizen, one vote) do not automatically manufacture democrats -- if by democrats we mean citizens who believe first and foremost in the kind of liberty that guarantees freedom of conscience and equality before the law.

On the contrary, each of these new democracies has produced constitutions that enshrine Islamic law. Because Islamic law, known as "sharia," does not permit equality between the sexes or among religions, it is anything but what we in American consider "democratic." Indeed, sharia law endows Muslims, and Muslim men in particular, with a superior position in society. It also outlaws words and deeds that oppose this inequitable power structure for being "un-Islamic." From this same Islamic legal tradition comes the mandate for jihad (holy war, usually against non-Muslims) and dhimmitude, the official state of inferiority of non-Muslims under Islam ...

So be it. What I mean by that is, it is neither in the national interest nor in the national will for the United States of America to attempt to reshape such a culture to conform to our notions of liberty and justice for all. It is neither in the national interest nor in the national will to attempt to reform a belief system that animates this culture to conform to our notions of freedom of worship. It is, however, in our national interest, and must become a part of our national will, to ensure that Islamic law does not come to our own shores, whether by means of violent jihad terrorism as practiced by the likes of Al Qaeda or Hezbollah, or through peaceful patterns of migration, such as those that have already Islamized large parts of Europe.

The shift I am describing -- from a pro-democracy offensive to an anti-sharia defensive -- means a national course correction. Rather than continuing to emphasize the democratization of the Muslim Middle East as our key tool in the war on terror, I will henceforth emphasize the prevention of sharia from reaching the West as our key tool in the war on terror.

This will entail the immediate adoption of the following steps.

At home, the line of defense is clear. It is our border. My new strategy calls on us to think of our border as more than just a line on a map. We need to see the border as a cultural line also, a defining line of freedom against proponents of sharia, which, I cannot emphasize enough, poses a direct threat to our founding principles of liberty and equality ...

How? Through largely unregulated immigration of peoples from "sharia states" -- those regions whose governing traditions derive, wholly or in some important part, from the edicts of Islam. If such an influx continues, Islamic law will be accommodated, adopted and even legislated, at least in some jurisdictions, according to majority will. We know this to be true because such a "sharia shift" is already transforming what sociologists call post-Christian Europe into an increasingly Islamic sphere. If we do not want to see such changes here, we must act. Accordingly, I am asking Congress to amend our laws to bar further Islamic immigration, beginning with immigration from sharia states. This, the most crucial domestic component of my anti-sharia program, will undoubtedly be regarded as the most controversial because it necessitates making a definitive judgment against the laws promulgated by Islam, a religion. This may appear to go against our cherished tradition of religious tolerance, not to mention good manners. But if the laws promulgated by Islam directly threaten freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and religion, women's rights and key concepts of equality -- and they do -- it is a sign of intellectual rigor mortis not to say so. And I do say so, but, again, not to launch a transformative military or cultural offensive against Islam, but to initiate the mobilization of a defensive movement to prevent the Islamization of American law and liberty.

... Once, I saw the war that began on Sept. 11, 2001, as dividing the world between those countries that were with us, and those that were against us. I have now come to define the crisis, both cultural and military, as occurring between the Free World and the Sharia World. The centrality of sharia in Islam is not something Americans can or should try to change. But it is not something we can ignore, either.

With this centrality in mind, our goals in the Middle East should change from, in effect, promoting sharia-democracy to preventing the export of sharia and terrorism to advance sharia. Accordingly, I have directed our military to formulate a plan to redeploy American troops from Iraq's cities, where they have been operating at great risk to attain stability for the Iraqi government, to bases in the north. From there, they may assist as needed in our mission to neutralize the terrorism- and sharia-exporting capabilities of freedom's enemies in the region. These would include nuke-seeking Iran and Syria, without whose support Hezbollah would not exist, and Saudi Arabia, from whose coffers comes global jihad.

What we call the war on terror now moves into a more focused phase, which better defines our mission and makes it more attainable. The road ahead is long and difficult, but our next steps are clear.

Boy, does Diana West get it. She puts into President Bush’s mouth a speech radically reformulating his Islam policy in a manner that so far ... exactly matches VFR’s approach. Muslim democratization ... empowers sharia and jihad. Therefore we must cease attempting to spread democracy to the Islamic world and instead prevent the spread of Islam to our world. Whoo-ee! As I’ve said a hundred times, we do not have the power to change Islam. But we do have the power to defend ourselves from Islam.

From these premises proceed two measures radically at odds with current policy. On the domestic front, we should bar further Islamic immigration to the United States. In the Mideast, West continues, we should “redeploy American troops ...”

How could someone so good looking and articulate be so evil as to propose ending Islamic immigration?

If our Home Secretary Jacqui Smith doesn’t feel safe walking in Hackney, what do the people who live and work there think? I asked a teacher I know at Hackney Free and Parochial Secondary School to tell me, and her response was very candid and eye-opening about the violence. This is what she said, this is her story:

I have listed below some of the incidents/ experiences I have encountered or heard about working and living in Hackney. Be warned these are really shocking:

1). The front entrance of the school is cordoned off by the police; no one is allowed to leave the building, whilst police secure the crime scene. Two Turkish boys have used razor blades to slice the faces of two Vietnamese boys, who they had a vendetta with.

2). One of my students is sent to Feltham Youth offenders’ unit for sexually abusing younger girls and taking lewd photographs.

3). Another one of my students is sent away to a youth offenders’ unit for a crime he committed. Crime unknown.

4) One of my students has her face slashed with a compass, by a fellow student, on the neighbouring estate. He is immediately permanently excluded.

5) A group of our students throw a firework into a local Kebab shop, on their way home from school. They are immediately permanently excluded.

6) A few years ago one of our students murders a boy from another school, outside Hackney Town Hall.

7) In 1986 a teacher at Homerton College of Technology, buys a gun and murders four people, one of which is the Deputy Head’s son. Another is the father of a boy at the school.

8) A student tries to attack a technology teacher with a sharp instrument during a lesson, a few weeks later he is charged with the murder of a pizza delivery man.

9) One of my students on the estate is considered a geek and is violently beaten up by fellow students and residents. His family are then subjected to continued abuse and intimidation because they did not fit in. He has a police escort to take him home every afternoon, after school. The family decide to relocate to another borough in London.

10) A deputy head teacher is arrested for alleged having a relationship with a female student. Trial date pending.

11) I hand out resources to my students; a boy has a cut on the back of his neck. I ask him how he got it; he tells me his brother stabbed him.

12) Close to where I lived on Kenworthy Road, in the space of eighteen months there are two fire arms incidents, in which two men were shot dead.

13) A Ghanaian boy breaks down in tears, during a lesson I am teaching on the dangers of carrying a knife. He is upset because his little brother is regularly being bullied by a group of older kids on his estate. He tells me about an incident involving a knife. His parents were at work at the time and he was frustrated and angry with the bullies, he describes how he ran into the kitchen and selected the biggest knife he could find – a bread knife, he then ran outside and confronted the gang, waving the knife about in the air. They soon cleared off.

14) One of my students, wears a knife vest under his shirt. The teaching staff refer to him as a ‘proper G’ – gangster. He turned up one day to my lesson with over two hundred pounds, which he then throws up into the air and shouts out, at the top of his voice “scramble!” Only one boy is brave enough to scramble around on the floor and pick the money up.

It goes on and on and on and on. The problem is there is just so much of it happening all the time that suddenly the unacceptable becomes the acceptable.

The truth is it’s not actually safe walking in Hackney at any time of the day, particularly when the school children are being released from school, this is when the most muggings occur, and it is for this reason that there is always a heavy police presence outside all of the schools and in particularly on Mare Street, near MacDonald’s, where a lot of the trouble seems to escalate. It’s a terrible admission on Jacqui Smith’s part, especially when she is responsible for reducing crime on our streets.

Since Labour has been in power they have failed to tackle the issue of childhood poverty. The gap between the rich and the poorest in our country has actually widened significantly and it these issues that have contributed to the sharp rise of incidents of violent crime committed by teenagers. Over the course of the last two and a half years I have been involved with three different schools in Hackney. I can list a catalogue of brutal and extreme incidents involving the students, teachers and people living on the neighbouring estates. All of these incidents involve violence, intimidation, murder and rape. I do not exaggerate, some of the stories you hear in Hackney are truly shocking.

The truth is that there are some parts of Britain that are no-go areas. These are areas where there is a total break-down of decent values, these places are run by violent gangs, who intimidate the local community, this is why people never come forward as witnesses to crimes, because they know what the consequences will be – they’re scared. There are twenty two different gangs in Hackney and because many of the children have either absent parents or parents that are simply incapable of looking after them, the kids turn to the gangs for support and for protection against other rival gangs etc …

Diane Abbott (MP for Hackney area) has recently come out and said that she would like to invite Jacqui Smith to go on a late night walk through Hackney. Okay, will that be a nice little meander down murder mile, where rival gangs frequently park their cars up, across from each other and have regular shoot outs? There is so much going on in Hackney, that doesn’t reach the national press, perhaps it should. I think that perhaps Diane will take Jacqui to leafy, middle class, predominately media-ville Church Street, in Stoke Newington, they can both go to one of the cosmopolitan bars/restaurants there and have a leisurely Frappuccino. They will be safe there, or will they? I did meet a police officer, last year, who told me that his colleagues stopped and searched a teenage boy, on a bike, on Church Street; he only had a shotgun in his rucksack. He was drug runner apparently, the gangs like them young, something to do with the age of criminal responsibility. I don’t know.

The schools ARE doing the best they can to pick up the pieces, created by dysfunctional chaotic families. These families have no idea how to look after vulnerable kids. At the school I work at we have enrichment activities after school, homework clubs, sport activities, film clubs, literacy, numeracy clubs etc … So, that keeps them out of trouble for a further two hours and away from the dangers and temptations of living on the estates. They get a lot of intervention, in the form of behaviour mentors, educational psychologists, councillors. At the end of day there is only so much a school can do, we’re not social workers, or parents, we’re teachers, and this is why so many teachers get burnt out so quickly – teachers are trying hard to patch these kids up, trying to engage with them, teach them, show them a better, more worthwhile alternative.

*This woman is such a dedicated teacher, and I am full of admiration for her. She does the job because she loves some of the kids, she worries about them, it’s an unselfish labour of love.

Police officers are being stationed in 100 schools in inner-city areas in England in an attempt to crack down on truancy and youth crime and to offer advice on issues such as bullying.

The move is part of the government's determination to crack down on youth crime and will cost £10m.

And so NSW followed last year with 40 officers for a School Liaison Unit. Looks like money down the diversity drain. Ask the experienced, not the learned. Millions are spent trying to keep communities together, when in reality we are sleepwalking into segregation.

And if segregation is where we are headed, we best formalise and limit the process. Otherwise the comfy parts of Australia will be forever shrinking with encroaching conflict.

Remember the photos the other day at Atlas Shrugs of the Ashura parade on Park Avenue, with the huge black banners (they seemed three stories high) symbolizing Shi'ite Islam, and the similarly huge white banners marked with red representing blood? That event involved no actual self-flagellation, no bleeding, but it did involve men standing on street corners ritually beating their chests while others looked on. I guess that's an example of Muslim "assimilation" in America: No people covered in blood, just crowds of bare-chested Muslims beating their chests on Park Avenue.

However, it turns out that this "assimilated," bloodless version of Ashura was just for Manhattan. Out in the boroughs, the Shi'ites are doing the real thing, as reported in today's New York Daily News. In a photo in the print version of the News, we see, at an Ashura festival in Queens, a barechested Mohammedan holding a long curved knife and with his back covered with blood. The online version of the News has a photo gallery of seven photos of the Queens Ashura "observations." They are weird, gross, and alienating, but the photo in the print version is the bloodiest.

This is happening in New York City. In the United States of America. And it's been brought to you, NOT BY LIBERALS, NOT BY TED KENNEDY, NOT BY BILL CLINTON OR GEORGE BUSH OR JOHN MCCAIN, BUT BY EVERY ONE OF US WHO HAS ACCEPTED THE NON-DISCRIMINATORY IMMIGRATION OF MUSLIMS IN THIS COUNTRY FOR THE LAST FORTY YEARS.

So there I am, with two of my little infidels in tow, dashing across town to hit Carnegie Hall. It seems Red has to have a classical concert in the bag for a report due tomorrow. I love these mandates, the kids as an impetus for some culchuh for a change. So imagine my surprise to stumble upon a sea of black down Park Avenue against a backdrop of loud Muslim prayers blaring over loudspeakers, no less. We were running late and I didn't have a picture card in my camera but Red said, "ma, there's a Staples down the block, you've got to get this". It was surreal ...

Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad officers have charged four men with drug supply offences, with one due to face court today.

Strike Force Stoneware was established in June last year to investigate a syndicate allegedly involved in the street-level supply of prohibited drugs, including cocaine.

As a result of an extensive investigation, Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad (MEOCS) officers raided five premises in Guildford, Granville, Bardwell Valley, Revesby and Lakemba on Wednesday last week (16 January).

Police will allege they seized cannabis, an extendable baton and drug paraphernalia, as well as a 2003-model BMW sedan and Toyota Camry ...

AS the future of both Pakistan and its President, Pervez Musharraf, wallow in uncertainty in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, parallels are being drawn to the 1979 fall of the Shah and the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Once again, a "pro-American" autocrat seems to be rapidly losing his grip on power, with his US ally only half-heartedly standing by him. The liberal elite and intelligentsia rail against the dictator, confident that their country is primed for secular democracy.

The obvious lesson to be drawn from 1979 is that the US unwisely rested its entire strategic relationship with Iran on the shoulders of an unpopular dictator. When his regime crumbled, so did the US's ability to realise its interests there.

However the Iranian revolution holds another lesson for Pakistani liberals: obsessed with evicting the Shah, Iran's intelligentsia was delusional about their own society and their potential to emerge victorious via an abrupt political upheaval.

Once the Shah left, the radical minority that was willing to fight and die for its cause devoured the "moderate majority", establishing Islamist rule in short order ...

Yup, and Australia should also learn from Iran and Pakistan. But no, we don't. All of a sudden, at just the wrong time, Australia develops a superiority complex to believe that our Muslim community will be different, ours will be peaceful. Sure. A moderate majority will be devoured in short order.

And what is even more illustrative in this article? The expert doesn't offer any useful solution. Why? Because he can't. Spencer: "peaceful Muslims have never formulated an Islamic response to the jihadists' claim to represent pure and true Islam". Until the moderates differentiate themselves ideologically, and are prepared to die to defend their beliefs, they will always be devoured in short order.

CIVIC shop owners have expressed fear and outrage at what they say is a growing culture of anti-social behaviour and pack youth mentality in the area.

Coupled with the complaints were allegations police were complacent in patrolling the area.

According to one retail outlet owner, the Beats Police office looking over Garema Place is staffed only at night and periodically at weekends, allowing unlawful and aggressive behaviour to escalate.

But according to an ACT Policing spokesman, the office is not a police station and is used only when Beats foot patrols are on duty. "The community expects high-visibility policing and for the beats teams to be away from their desks and out on the streets. In close proximity to Garema Place, the City Police Station is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and there for anyone who is in need of assistance," he said.

None of the business operators Sunday Canberra Times spoke to in and around Garema Place were willing to be named, citing safety reasons. "A pit of harassment and aggression. That sums this place up," another owner said. "Once these kids know that their scare tactics are working, they are like vultures to a dead carcass. They just won't go away." ...

AN aggressive, fearless and increasingly violent Generation Y is forcing police to rethink tactics and training as more people under 25 openly take on authority, Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon declared yesterday.

The Victorian police boss said the level of disrespect being exhibited on the streets was getting worse and she laid the blame squarely on Generation Y.

Young men and women born after 1984 were increasingly using technology - SMS and the internet - to gather in numbers and intimidate police.

"We are seeing a level of aggression that our police officers are seeing within the city itself that is much worse," Ms Nixon said yesterday.

"I think it's a generational issue. It is the Why - W-H-Y - Generation. They really are far more aggressive. They'll cluster more and will send SMS and a lot of their friends will come," Ms Nixon said.

A recent study of GenerationY in NSW by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research revealed that almost one in 10 people born in the state in 1984 had a criminal record by the time they turned 21.

In an unusual break from the police tradition of playing down the level of violence in the community, a frank Ms Nixon said alcohol-fuelled violence was on the rise and was forcing a change in strategies.

"We have to be training our officers differently, and we are," she said. "We have to take a much harder line than we have before."

Ms Nixon's candid comments came just days after she attacked a group of teenagers for their behaviour at a suburban house party on the weekend, which turned ugly as revellers hurled bottles at police.

The confrontation escalated to the point that the air squad and the dog squad had to be called in to deal with up to 500 youngsters and ended with up to $20,000 damage being done to police vehicles by the drunken teenagers.

It came as Ms Nixon defended her officers who resorted to the use of capsicum spray to subdue unruly fans at the Australian Open tennis tournament.

One of the officers trying to evict members of the crowd for chanting offensive statements on Wednesday described how he was pushed and shoved by the spectators and that he feared being hurt.

Footage of the confrontation revealed angry fans - including young women - shouting abuse at police and openly defying the officers ...

The descent back to the rabid primate proceeds in parallel with the rise of Islam. Who will win? Who knows. All we can be sure of is that if either of them win then women will be the losers.

Partly, this is the result of the escalato spiral feeding off the lower level assaults that have been allowed in the name of diversity and progress.

Gen Y has grown up in a culture of low-level assault. Assaults in the form of: racial and cultural diversity, offensive fashions, doof-doof bass assault, rude use of mobile phones, etc. So, nowadays, you are pretty much assaulted 24/7 if you live in a metro area.

In your home you are assaulted by doof-doofers driving by, or the neighbours surround sound up on full blast. Out in public, school, or work you are affronted with the strains of visual diversity taxing your nervous system. So, everywhere you go, it's bang, bang, bang: everyone abusing everyone with low-level shocks.

There's more to it: a cultural vacuum, soft law-and-order, reality-TV, jackass movies, rap music, demonic music, and every form of errant behaviour exampled in abundance on the internet.

The only way a diverse city will survive is to go over the top with a civility calming program e.g. everyone is forced to standards of dress, grooming, and polite behaviour i.e. the opposite of current liberal standards of visual and auditory assault.

The tattoo craze is another symptom of spiralling visual assault. The way things are going, facial tattoos will soon be as common as full-length arm tattoos now are.

It all starts with the dumbass policies that deny the realities of the human nervous system. Humans require an environment that is visually conservative, but we go ahead and bring in burkas and blacks anyway. Humans require a quiet environment for comfort and productivity, but we allow offensive technology to spread poorly regulated.

Gen Y grows up with this constant sensory assault. Result: they're easily pissed-off. They have two choices: withdraw if overly sensitive; or indulge the shock-culture and go out there and do some assaulting of your own.

The pervasive assaults that Gen Y is subjected to ensure that, when low-level assaults are everywhere, everyone is short-tempered and it's a short step to verbal abuse and physical violence.

And what is the full implication as Gen Y's grow up in this mess? They have no respect for adults who created this mess for them.

If the global warmists get their way, and folks leave the cities and their technologies behind, maybe more peaceful communities will return. One would hope they are racially homogeneous too. Maybe that's an opportunity for the white folk to re-establish communities with some pride in who we are.

Here's my vote for dress standards ...

Suit up some of these jackass offenders like a mormon. That'll wipe the smirk off their face.

Ray Harris is a frequent contributor to Integral World. He has written articles on 9/11, boomeritis, the Iraq war and Third Way politics. Harris lives in Australia:

In seeking to defend Islam against the claim that it promotes violence many Muslims have said that 'Islam' means peace, or that Islam is a religion of peace. Unfortunately this is just plain wrong.

Islam

... In saying that Islam means peace Islamic apologists are simply indulging in word play in order to put as positive a spin on things as they can. It is an attempt to argue that Islam promotes non-violence. As we will see such a peace is only available to one who has first surrendered to Allah and it is denied to those who refuse to surrender. Mohammed would sign his treaty offers with the words, aslem taslam, 'surrender and you will be safe'.

Jihad

... David Cook, author of Understanding Jihad says:

"There is no lack of evidence concerning the Muslim practice of jihad. The classical and modern works on the subject are voluminous, and they are documented by an examination of Muslim actions as recorded by historians. There can be no reasonable doubt that jihad is a major theme running through the entirety of Muslim civilization and is at least one of the major factors in the astounding success of the faith of Islam."

... In fact the four schools (madhhab) of Sunni jurisprudence as well as the Shia tradition only refer to the lesser jihad [holy war]. This means that for many Muslims the concept of the greater jihad[inner struggle] is unorthodox and heretical.[comments mine]

Dar al'harb

The language of the Koran separates the world into Muslims and kufir (infidels, unbelievers)...

This dichotomy clearly argues that Islam is superior and the unbelievers are therefore inferior. It allows Muslims to look down on non-Muslims with derision and contempt. This has found modern expression in many a Friday night sermon ...

The exemplars: Mohammed and his Companions

One of the enormous difficulties apologists have in trying to depict Islam as a religion of peace is the fact that the new religion was born in violence and that its prophet actually fought and killed ...

There is a common argument that the later passages 'abrogate' (naskh) the earlier passages. That is, when trying to interpret apparently contradictory passages the later passages inform the earlier passages. Unfortunately the later passages are the most violent and the law of abrogation demands the peaceful passages be tempered by the belligerent passages, not the other way around. Many radical Muslims believe that the final command of Mohammed, to 'fully' establish Islam, has yet to be achieved.

... This is the massacre of the Bani Qurayzah, one of the Jewish tribes. Most accounts agree that Mohammed's men dug a long trench, then lined up all the males of fighting age (around 700) and then systematically beheaded them. The women and children were then handed to the victors as slaves. Now this was rather normal behaviour at the time, but it certainly challenges the idea that Mohammed was a man of peace and compassion.

Mohammed's army went on to conquer Mecca and the defeated infidels were given a simple choice, convert or die. The atmosphere of the final revelations are the most violent. These are sometimes called the 'sword verses'.

Fight and slay the unbelievers wherever you find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war. 9:5

Make war on them: God will chastise them at your hands and humble them. He will grant you victory over them and heal the spirit of the faithful. 9:14 ...

Dhimmi and murtadd

... To begin with infidels must convert or die, atheism or polytheism is not tolerated at all. The People of the Book are able to continue to practice their faith provided they adhere to the dhimmi laws. These laws were often so restrictive that many ordinary Jews and Christians converted simply to make their lives easier ...

Once you had converted to Islam you were forbidden to convert to another religion. Conversion, murtadd, or apostasy, is forbidden under sharia and the punishment is death ...

So if Islam is the religion of peace and if there should be "no compulsion in religion" why is it permissible to kill atheists and polytheists, kill dhimmi as infidels if they break the dhimmi laws and kill apostates? It takes a considerable amount of rhetorical contortion to argue that Islam is a tolerant religion when these rules apply.

What do Islamists want?

According to orthodox Muslims Islam is the perfect system. They are idealists who believe they have a utopian solution. The answer to the world's problems is Islam ...

'But this is NOT the real Islam!'

When confronted with the above moderate Muslims will often reply by arguing that these groups do not represent the real Islam. This is a nonsense. There is no such thing as a real Islam. Rather, there are multiple Islams. In fact the situation is quite absurd. There is no central authority in Islam and rival groups compete with each other to attract followers. As I write this a council of American Muslim scholars has issued a fatwa condemning terrorism. Yet, at the same time a council of orthodox scholars in Indonesia has issued a fatwa condemning moderates. Fatwa at twenty paces! ...

Perhaps the question that should be asked of moderates is this, if the radicals are a minority and if they do not represent the 'real' Islam how is it they have been able to carry on a global jihad on several fronts, jihads that include civil wars, secessionist movements, revolutions, assassinations and global terrorism? The list of countries that have been affected by this global jihad is quite long. As I write this incidents have occurred in England, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Kashmir and Bangladesh. The simple fact is that there is broader private support for the Islamists objectives than is ever admitted to publicly and a number are sitting on the fence, waiting to see which way things turn out.

Conclusion

Islam was never a religion of peace. It is a religion based on a warrior code. The evidence is clear, it was made evident in the actions of Mohammed and his Companions. Islam means 'surrender'. It is entirely legitimate to interpret the tradition of Islam as a state of perpetual jihad with the final aim being the defeat of unbelief and the surrender of all to the word of Allah as revealed by His Prophet, Mohammed. It is only when that surrender has been completed that the world will abide in a state of perfection and peace. Many jihadi see themselves as simply following the example set by Mohammed.

Moderate Islam realises that this goal is impossible. However, what the moderates have not yet fully realised is that it is up to them to defeat the radicals. This cannot be done until the power centres of fundamentalism are isolated and choked of support. This is not something that infidels can hope to achieve. What it calls for is a jihad of another kind, a complete reformation of Islam that reinterprets Islam in light of modern history. A reformation that demands the overthrow of sharia law and the discrediting of supremacist and fundamentalist interpretations of Islam ...

And what should we do? We should articulate a fair, free and fearless critique of Islam. We must identify those progressive Muslim voices that are calling for a reformation. And we should continue to refuse to 'surrender'.

Problem: well stated. Solution: too optimistic; a reformation is a long shot.

British troops could be in Afghanistan for decades, the country's Defence Secretary Des Browne said in comments published Sunday.

Asked by The People weekly newspaper when Britain's soldiers would withdraw from Afghanistan, Browne said: "We cannot risk it again becoming an ungoverned training haven for terrorists who threaten the UK.

"But there is only so much our forces can achieve. The job can only be completed by the international community working with the Afghan government and its army.

"It is a commitment which could last decades, although it will reduce over time."

Browne's comments echo those of the head of the army, senior figures in the security services and former prime minister Tony Blair that the battle against Islamist extremism could last a generation ...

And why are we in Afghanistan? Because we are 'fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here'. All due to the flawed policy of hosting Muslims in the West. No Muslims, no problem. You can dance around it all you like, but 'decades' is spin for 'as soon as we leave, the Taliban will probably come storming back into power'. It's no fault of the troops, they've done a damn good job.

Time to turn it around: let's have some civilised containment/reversal of Muslim communities in the West, so we don't have to fight them FOREVER over there. But that's just TOO BIG A MISTAKE FOR ANYONE TO ADMIT.

Why could it 'last a generation'? Because by then the politicians will be dead and free from blame.

The soldiers were on a routine morning patrol in the Chanae district of Narathiwat province when a bomb hidden on the road exploded as their vehicle passed, said the spokesman, Col. Akara Thiprote.

After the blast, suspected insurgents attacked the vehicle with a barrage of gunfire, leaving no survivors, he said.

"One of the soldiers was beheaded. His head was found 50 meters away from the scene of the attack," said police Lt. Col. Chakkrote Nongmanee, who inspected the blast site.

No end in sight as south Thai rebellion enters fifth yearJan 3, 2008, AFP:

Brutal killings have reached unprecedented levels in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, experts say, as the region enters the fifth year of a separatist insurgency that is tearing communities apart.

A government policy of reconciliation in the region has backfired, analysts told AFP, with rebels beheading, mutilating and even crucifying victims to try to spark a backlash and create divisions between Buddhists and Muslims.

"They kill in such brutal ways: beheaded, hacked to death, set on fire ... the idea is to provoke a strong reaction of the Buddhist Thais against Muslims," said Sunai Phasuk, a Thailand consultant with Human Rights Watch.

"The Buddhist Thais feel that they have become subject of atrocities, and many of them even feel that ethnic cleansing is going on."

The pace of deadly violence has picked up since militants raided a southern army base on January 4, 2004, reviving long-running tensions and triggering an insurgency along the border region with Malaysia.

About 1,800 people were killed in the first three years of the insurgency. By the end of the fourth that has now risen to more than 2,800.

The south was an autonomous Malay sultanate until Buddhist Thailand annexed it in 1902.

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's heavy-handed tactics were widely blamed for exacerbating the unrest in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, but he was ousted in a military coup in 2006.

The generals and their interim premier Surayud Chulanont vowed to quell the insurgency with olive branches for rebels, an apology for past abuses, reform of Islamic schools and tougher security.

Instead, they watched as killings grew more frequent and brutal, with both Buddhists and Muslims targeted every day.

An average of 72 people have been killed each month since September 2006, sharply up from 53 deaths per month before the coup ...

More than 30 people have been decapitated during the insurgency, many of them civilians. The object appears to be to terrorize Buddhists into leaving the region.

The insurgents do not issue public statements, but researchers who have had contact with them believe they seek a separate Islamic state ...

The degree of influence on the insurgents by outside Islamic extremist groups is still a matter of debate, though many experts agree that the rebellion is a homegrown reaction to decades of disenchantment over misrule and discrimination by Thailand's central government.